Spine-Chilling Stories: Nurses Recall Ghostly Encounters And Supernatural Experiences While On Duty

I've heard every nurse has a ghost story, so I was immediately interested when I saw that, over on Quora, nurses had engaged in a number of fascinating conversations about their experiences with the supernatural.

Honestly, I'm a bit of a skeptic, but after reading these, I'm not so sure what to think. Take a look:

1."I've been a nurse for over 22 years, and about eight of those years were in hospice. I've seen a lot of supernatural things going on — and not just in the last few hours when patients are supposed to be lacking oxygen, so they hallucinate, etc. I saw the lights of heaven shine down on a patient's bed; she gasped and smiled. I told her to go. She smiled at me and extended her hand, then the light went out. I've seen men down the halls that shouldn't be there. I've had a woman tell me my Mom, Pat, was standing in the corner. She didn't know me, much less my Mom and her name."

—LeeAnn G., Quora

2."My fellow nurses and I have seen a 'spirit-like mist' rise from the body as the patient died. It scared the hell out of me the first time. After that, I just accepted that the patient had been released from their suffering. I've also had a patient suddenly tell me his friend was there and wanted him to come with him (I saw a mist-like blob at the foot of his bed). He didn't know his friend (who was horribly burned in the same accident) had died a few minutes before. We didn't tell him because we didn't want to make his last hours grief-stricken. I told him that if he wanted to go with his friend, it was OK. Minutes later, he did. Two other nurses, besides me, saw the mists rise and seem to pass through the window together. I didn't use names, but I'll never forget them."

—Mena M., Quora

3."I had several ghostly encounters while I worked as a charge nurse in a nursing home. Once, as I made rounds, I noticed a resident lying in bed who'd been hospitalized for over a week. I welcomed her back and asked the CNA (certified nursing assistant) about her return. I was told she was still in the hospital. I said no, I just talked to her and brought the other nurse to the room to prove it. No one was in the bed, and it was perfectly made. Several hours later, the hospital called to inform us that our resident died. The time of death was around the same time that I saw her. I can only guess that she came back to say goodbye."

"Another time, I saw a woman walk from the bed to the bathroom, wearing a long gown. I immediately went into the room only to find the bathroom empty and both residents asleep in their beds."

—Lynn G., Quora

4."I worked in a nursery/postpartum unit, which was previously an intensive care unit. It was a small unit, so I was usually alone with the babies in the nursery. We had a baby swing for fussy babies. We kept it turned off. About once per eight-hour shift, the swing would gradually start swinging all by itself. We would leave it alone until it started swinging pretty hard and fast at which time we would get up to stop it. It was always swinging all by itself without being turned on."

—Janice W.L., Quora

5."In a hospital where I worked there was a doctor who would walk through the hospital jingling his change. After he died, nurses still heard the change jingling in the halls."

—Sherry B., Quora

6."I had a gentleman on a ventilator. About three in the morning, his wife called and said her husband had come to her in a dream and told her he needed a priest. And could we please find one, and that she would be coming as soon as possible. Once a patient is put on a ventilator, he cannot speak as the tube passes his larynx into his trachea. A priest arrived and gave him the last rites. The man sat up in bed and kissed the cross the priest held, lay back, and died."

"He had liver cancer, and when he died, he bled out through every orifice. Unfortunately, it was an ugly death because of all the bleeding. Fortunately, the wife did not arrive until we had finished cleaning the patient, and put him in a clean gown and sheets. The wife arrived and said she had been delayed because she had a flat tire and needed to ask her neighbor to bring her. I have no doubt that the patient found a way to delay his wife long enough so that we could make him presentable for his wife to see him. It was so eerie the way it happened. I shall never forget it."

—Tippy C., Quora

7."This story is a true experience. I am not a mystical person, but some things I just cannot explain. I worked with a nurse who we will call Mary. One of her patients, whom we will call Susie, died, and Mary helped her CNA do the death care. As they rolled the large lady over, Mary sighed and said, 'Oh, Susie, you are dead weight!' A couple of days later, Mary tells me, 'I think Susie heard me; I am having problems every time I enter the room.' I sort of laughed it off; after all, Susie was dead! How could she have heard? But Mary made me go into the room with her. She told me to go into the bathroom and wash my hands. I did, looking at Mary through the open door like she was ridiculous. 'Now,' she said, 'I will come wash MY hands.' She entered the bathroom and barely cleared the doorway before the door slammed shut. She turned the faucet on, and water sprayed everywhere."

"We did this on and off for days, and it never failed. I could go in and wash my hands, no problem, but not Mary. Each day, Mary would stand in the room and say, 'Susie, I didn't mean it in a bad way!' After a good week of apologies, Mary was forgiven and it all stopped."

—Brenda R., Quora

8."Somebody walked past me while I was at the nurses' station about six months ago. It was nighttime, and I saw the distinct outline of a tall, thin man. In fact, I thought it was a particular resident. But when I looked up, I couldn't make out any other details and it sped past me faster than any living person I know. It so happens we hadn't had any recent deaths at the nursing home, but the following day, a developmentally disabled young woman passed away unexpectedly. Her father had died the previous year. Whatever I saw came from the direction of her room. I've always wondered if it was her dad coming back to take his little girl home."

—Rebekah, Quora

9."A nurse friend worked in a nursing home, and one of her patients, a man in his 80s whom we'll call Sam, was rumored to have been involved with one of the more infamous crime families. He may have actually been a hitman and had spent many years in prison before being paroled as an elderly man. One night, while assisting a patient, she suddenly heard a man screaming. She and the patient both looked into the hallway outside the room and were horrified to see Sam being dragged down the hallway by two figures dressed all in black. She dropped what she was doing and dashed into the hallway, but no one was there. The exit door at the end of the hallway was still closed, locked to the outside, and the alarm was on but silent."

"Two other residents who routinely kept their room doors open at night had also seen the same black-clad figures dragging Sam down the hallway toward the locked door. Running back to Sam's room, she found that he had passed away quietly in his bed, and nothing in his room had been disturbed. She and the residents were convinced that on that night, they saw Sam's soul being dragged to hell."

—David R., Quora

10."I used to work in a nursing home, and there were several times I'd walk past bedrooms to see someone sitting in the armchair next to a resident's bed, only for them to be gone when I took a second glance. I remember one resident who would go to bed every night around 1 a.m., then wake up and enter the lounge at around 3 a.m. without fail. We'd always give him sandwiches that we'd set aside for him from tea time. Once he'd finished these sandwiches and a cup of tea, he'd be ready for bed again, where he'd stay until late morning. One night, I came into work to find out he'd passed earlier that morning. However, at 3 a.m., as I was sitting in the lounge filling in paperwork, the door to his bedroom (which was incredibly heavy due to a broken fire door hinge) opened and closed by itself. I wasn't the only one who saw it but was the only one willing to accept it."

—Rebekah T., Quora

11."I have sat with many patients who were in the process of dying eminently. I sat with one older man who was unconscious and watched him breathe. As he drew his last breath, I swear I saw something lift up from the body and hover for a few seconds before dissipating. I swear. It was real, and I could only describe it as an energy field. You know when you are driving down a hot road on a hot day, sometimes you can see wavy lines like a mirage? That’s how it looked. It covered his head, arms, and trunk and hovered about six inches over the body. When I looked at his face, I could see and feel that he was no longer there."

—Linda C., Quora

12."I was sitting by the side of my closest friend in ICU. She was on a ventilator and in grave condition. They allowed me to sit by her bed all night. The sound of the ventilator whooshed, and the bed slowly tilted from side to side. I was reading a book. I was NOT asleep. I looked up and saw ten to twelve people standing across the room. They were dressed in loose clothing. A man sat in a chair, and a child stood next to him. They were talking to one another but made no sound. They looked as if an old antique filter was over them, no color. I look down and up again. They were still there. I figured they were her family waiting for her to cross."

"A burst of cool, refreshing air then blew through me front to back, and in my mind, I heard my friend say, 'Lighten up. Lighten up.' It was shortly after that the people faded away. My friend survived that night. I have never seen or felt anything like that before. The episode probably lasted four or five minutes."

—Linda C., Quora

13."I have been present for maybe 150 deaths. During five of them, the patient fought it for hours, even days. They were scared and afraid to 'let go.' I leaned over, held their hand, and whispered in their ear something like, 'Everything is OK, your family is OK, there's nothing to be afraid of, just relax and let go.' Soon, the heart slowed to zero, respirations stopped, and then...there was high pressure in the room, my ears popped, the lights flickered, and the doors closed. That seemed a little supernatural to me. But strangely, after the first time —not scary."

— Cathy R., Quora

14."If you are skeptical about ghosts, I urge you to work in a hospital. I used to think ghosts were nonsense, but no, they are 110% real. I learned that early on when I started working in hospitals, and over the years I've seen hundreds of ghosts. It's an incredible thing to witness. There was a woman who used to walk up and down one of the wards. She was elderly and wearing an old hospital gown. I would follow her sometimes, and she would eventually walk through a wall and vanish until the next day."

Working in the morgue, I saw a beautiful woman who apparently was a mortician years ago. She would suddenly appear, smile, and then walk through the morgue. I saw her during an actual autopsy once, which scared the life out of me. I heard her chuckle after I shrieked.

I also often saw a man walking hand in hand with what people believe to be his wife. They would walk by, nod, and then vanish.

Lastly, an encounter I remember best was when two girls were giggling in a corridor. I never saw them, but they could be heard giggling nearly every night. And then, as you got closer, you would hear their feet as they ran away, still giggling."

—Sky Y., Quora